


Shittalking As A Love Language

by cpt_winniethepooh



Series: Bucky Barnes Bingo fills [5]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: 5+1 Things, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Fix-It, Bickering, Falcon And The Winter Soldier - Freeform, Fix-It, M/M, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Canon Fix-It, Social Commentary, Social Issues, bucky barnes is an asshole, dad friend bucky barnes, sam wilson is an asshole
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:08:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28412163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cpt_winniethepooh/pseuds/cpt_winniethepooh
Summary: Sam Wilson, the first black Captain America, has a lot on his plate: he had the military for a reason but now he's back and all of his enemies are weird and overpowered, the shield doesn’t behave as it should, Steve made it look so easy, and also now a lot of people look up to him and he can't disappoint the kids.Bucky Barnes, ex-assassin and still Winter Soldier, is doing his best to atone for his sins. He wants to help people to clean his ledger and undo some of the damage he had caused. If that includes helping Sam become a successful Cap (and maybe laughing at him in the process) that's just a bonus because any day that involves Nazis not electrocuting his brain is a good day.Steve Rogers... well, he may be living out his happy ending differently than how it originally looked to the world.Or 5 times Bucky was having the time of his life saving the day and mocking Sam, and the one time Sam had a great day, too.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Series: Bucky Barnes Bingo fills [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2077257
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22
Collections: Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020, Stucky Bingo 2020





	Shittalking As A Love Language

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter one is written for the Bucky Barnes Bingo prompt 'future fic' and the Stucky Bingo prompt 'patriot'. 

Once, they would have held such conferences at the Avengers Tower, or the Avengers Compound, but there weren't that many Avengers left. So instead they gathered at the Clean Convenience, a hotel that started out as barely more than an Air B'n'B before the 2012 Chitauri attack, after which it managed to land some funding from SHIELD and became a 5-star luxury establishment where the new not-SHIELD was always welcome to hold press conferences.

Bucky was watching from the corner as reporters and photographers used the cover of trying to find their seats while also stealing ungodly amounts of food from the buffet. Despite his secluded hiding spot and the new jacket (navy, sleeveless on the left) and haircut, he was spotted easily, mainly because of his black and gold arm, and some have taken photos of him from afar. But nobody came close enough to ask questions, because apparently the reputation of the Winter Soldier still preceded him.

 _Good_. Bucky had no intention of mingling with the press.

Sam had no such luck. For one, the Captain America gear was made to stand out, even the new redesign; for another, the reporters had no restraints when it came to swarming him like ants even before the conference began.

"Captain Wilson, what's your opinion on the new LEGO line featuring you?"

"Major Wilson, can you confirm the return of Nick Fury?"

"Captain America, could you sign this for my daughter?"

They didn't even know how to address him properly. Sam's forced smile was the highlight of the day for Bucky, especially when their eyes met as the mass of people between them shifted. Bucky smirked almost imperceptibly, and Sam had to tone his glare down.

Maybe if Bucky directed all questions addressed to him to Sam’s way during the conference, this would turn out to be quite enjoyable.

"Man I hate the press," Sam grumbled afterward, up in 'their suite' which they only accepted without complaints because they wouldn't actually be spending the night. Sam tried to put the shield down on its side, but it slid off of the wall with a loud clang. Sam swore.

"I think it went well," Bucky said breezily.

"That's only because you didn't get any hard questions," Sam fired back. The shield fell down a second time, and Sam stared at it with deep, deep betrayal. Then he sighed and stepped over it to get out of the uniform.

Bucky quietly righted the shield; he would never not know his way around it.

"Nothing's stopping you from murdering a bunch of people, then they'd be afraid of you too," he said. If Steve were there, he wouldn't find this funny, but in his absence, Bucky was free to let his gallows humor out.

"There are actually a lot of things stopping me," Sam said.

Bucky just raised an eyebrow at him.

"For one, I would never be pardoned," Sam said pointedly. "Or that there wouldn't be an army of white dudes fighting for me."

Yeah, Bucky could definitely see why Steve had liked hanging around with Sam.

"The fact that morals aren't your first _or_ your second reason is somewhat disturbing," Bucky said lightly.

He was also getting out of the uniform and was thankful that the new jacket was much easier to take on and off than the one from HYDRA.

Of course, nothing was about _comfort_ with HYDRA, especially when it came to the Winter Soldier.

Sam didn't answer for a while, so Bucky turned once he had his Henley on and saw that Sam was frowning at himself in the large mirror on the wall.

Sam noticed him looking and frowned, which was one of the main ways they communicated. Bucky just raised an eyebrow.

"This shade of blue was not made for me," Sam said with a sigh.

Bucky's eyebrows raised even higher. "If you say so," he said with unmasked disbelief.

"It would probably be flattering on Steve–" Sam said, then caught himself and bit his lips.

Bucky pursed his lips and turned away. To be fair, everything would have been more flattering on Steve, but Bucky couldn't really admit that without revealing his bias.

"–but things just look differently on a dark skin," Sam finished behind his back. Bucky put his civilian jacket on and sat down on the edge of a fancy armchair.

"I never took you for a vain superhero," he said to steer the conversation towards lighter waters.

He failed spectacularly. Sam's eyebrows furrowed and he dropped his hands as he glared at Bucky.

"It's not vanity, Barnes, it's stress."

"Stress?" Bucky looked around, genuinely confused. There was absolutely _nothing_ in this hotel room to be stressed about; in fact, this was one of the easiest days Bucky's had lately, especially when Cap was involved.

"Not here," Sam waved angrily, then murmured under his breath. "You wouldn't get it."

Now it was Bucky's turn to inhale sharply. "Maybe I understood more things if people _explained_ them," he said.

Sam considered him for a moment, then began to talk as he used the excuse of getting down to his undershirt to avoid Bucky's eyes.

"I'm the first black Captain America after almost a century of the whole world knowing a blond, blue-eyed, super white man as Cap," he said.

"...yeah?" Bucky said, prompting him to go on because indeed, he didn't get it.

"And things aren't perfect in the future, but if you're black, you have to be," Sam said. “If I fail, everybody will take that to mean that no black man can ever be Cap again."

That sounded a little far fetched to Bucky, and it must have shown on his face because Sam went on.

"How many black members did the Avengers have?" he asked.

Yeah, okay, Fair point.

"There is War Machine," Bucky still said. "And Black Panther."

"None are or were officially Avengers," Sam said. "Still, there are literally more green than black superheroes out there. And T'Challa's country recently had a minor civil war about whether to be isolationist or open the borders and help people in need – black people, who are in need, which kinda supports my argument here."

...yeah, okay.

"Steve messed up a lot in the beginning, too," Bucky said as a moot way of consolidation. Even if he hadn't been there, he'd heard the stories.

The grenade, for once. Bucky tried not to think about that too often.

"That's the point, that he _could_ mess up. Let's put it this way: if I break half as many rules as Steve does, I won't get medals or promotions. I'll get sent home and with that, disappoint many, many people who finally see themselves represented," Sam said, turning back to the mirror. "But now there's a shitload of people out there waiting for me to fuck up so they can shout 'ha-ha, told you he can't do it'. So yeah, there's kind of a lot on my shoulders right now.”

Bucky swallowed. He hadn’t thought of it like that – he hadn’t thought of it at all. And he really didn’t have anything to offer, just like when Steve had gone on rants about the unfairness of the world.

“I’m sure the new SHIELD would help you out with the color of the suit,” Bucky finally said.

“It’s brand new, they’re not going to throw it away,” Sam said with more melancholy than the color shade warranted, but melancholy that Bucky now understood.

“It’ll get damaged on our next mission,” Bucky shrugged. “And changing it again would be on-brand with the whole Cap-deal.”

Steve had requested changes all the time and was _outraged_ whenever they put him in something he hadn’t liked. Bucky generally had a different opinion than him, but he agreed that some were less practical than others – and there were some that had been equally meaningful to both of them, like the original one that Steve had put on when he tried to get Bucky to remember him.

Sam’s thoughts must have been along similar lines, because he said, “Maybe. I can try, at least. And hey, speaking of, do you have his... Steve's phone number?"

Sam didn't look at him, but years of practice still helped Bucky keep his face unreadable.

They hadn't talked about Steve since Sam got the shield from him.

"What?"

"I could use some tips, even from an old man," Sam sighed.

The advantage of being the famous Winter Soldier was that practically nobody could recognize Bucky without the arm. Even if he was wearing leather gloves and a black jacket, people's eyes slid off of him without the signature prosthetic being visible. Bucky used that to his full advantage as he made his way home to Brooklyn – _home_.

There was nothing he'd ever wanted more in his life.

He opened the door and dropped his backpack to the floor, and immediately his shoulders were lighter.

"I thought they'd kept you for another round," Steve said, trotting down the stairs in loose lounge pants and a T-shirt that had been Bucky's that morning. He grabbed Bucky by his lapels and drew him in for a kiss, and Bucky melted in his embrace.

"Just had a talk with Sam after the official interview was done," Bucky said. He pulled back to be able to drink Steve in, as each time, it was a miracle to be coming home to this – Steve, healthy, strong, _his_. _Only_ his, this time. "He asked for your number."

"What'd you say?"

"That you're too old to have a phone," Bucky said, and the corners of Steve's mouth turned down a bit.

Bucky did not remind him that this was all Steve's idea. Steve had lost everything one time too many, and when the opportunity presented itself, he took it. After all, if everybody believed he was in his seventies – as in, looked and had the body of a seventy-something man – he could finally retire.

Retirement had consisted of immediately taking the make-up and wig off and enjoying everything the 21st century had to offer with Bucky by his side: warm housing, good art supplies, the internet, _gay marriage_.

"He'll be fine," Bucky said instead, and lead Steve into the kitchen so they could have dinner. "I brought Thai."

"I know he will be," Steve said, getting plates. "He has you."

"Yeah, I'm a great help when it comes to the issues of black representation," Bucky said dryly.

"You're always a help to Captain America," Steve said. "Any Captain America."

But that was the thing: Bucky wasn't. Bucky hated Cap, hated how much it took from Steve until barely anything was left. He never cared for that, for the stars and the stripes and all that bullshit; he was only ever following Steve.

Even when he was running away to the other end of the world he hadn't even considered Cap, only Steve, and what might be best for Steve.

Of course, he'd been way off the mark, but he'd just come back from decades of brainwashing. Give him a break.

"I couldn't care less about Cap," Bucky said once they started eating. And what an experience that was: Steve, who had been allergic to everything, and Bucky, who had been fed through tubes. The joys of what they had now never seemed to cease.

"You care about Sam," Steve said, and Bucky kicked him under the table.

"I only care because you do," he said.

"M-hm," Steve said. "You're no better than me, Barnes."

There was no denying that. But Bucky tried; that's why he decided to go back to the fight even when Steve didn't. He could've also found a way out, and Steve had wanted that, had asked him to come – but Bucky had rested before, and he needed to... Prove. Atone. Help. There were so many people like him, people lost on the wrong side of a war, and Steve had been there for Bucky – the least Bucky could do to pay it forward was to be there for them.

"You know how I mean," Steve said softly, reaching out, and Bucky took his hand into his.

Sap, absolute sap. Of course Bucky knew – Steve had always had an unreasonably high opinion of Bucky and an erroneously low opinion of himself. These days Bucky wasn't worried about disappointing him anymore; he had done the worst of the worst and yet, Steve was still there.

Didn't mean he believed him, though.

"I know," he said, instead of arguing because even in the future there was no winning against this much stubborn.

"What are we doing here?" Sam asked.

Bucky let his jacket fall and began to stretch. "You are going to become a Captain you are proud of," he said.

"Aw, Barnes, I didn't know you cared," Sam teased.

"I care about you being too high-strung," Bucky fired back. "It can compromise you. Now get into gear and let's go."

"And how is this going to help me?" Sam asked, doubt dripping from every word.

He could bitch all he wanted, he still came when Bucky called.

They met upstate, near the Avengers Compound that once was, almost literally in the middle of nowhere. Bucky had hiked around here when he was on the run from HYDRA – and on the move to destroy them, it kind of blurred together. But he remembered that it was a lot of forests, some hills, and enough plain terrain, all conveniently away from society, and currently devoid of anybody but the two of them in a large radius.

"That won't," Bucky said when he saw that Sam was observing some birds on a leafless branch. "But this will."

He pulled a gun out of his duffle bag and fired at Sam without warning. Sam instinctively raised the shield and blocked his shot.

"WHAT THE FUCK," Sam screamed. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!"

"It's just a nerf gun," Bucky said, and couldn't quite suppress a smile. Man, Steve wasn't going to forgive him for not recording this. "And you passed the first round."

Then he chucked the gun at Sam by the barrel.

Sam parried the throw and the gun ended up etched into a tree.

"Seriously?" Sam said. Then again. "Seriously?!"

"Yeah, you need to handle the shield," Bucky said.

"And this is your way of teaching me?!"

Bucky didn't hold back on the smile this time. "People learn better under pressure."

"That's not true, that's not even remotely true," Sam said. "Did you do this with Steve too?"

"Yes," Bucky said, and he had. Once he realized that Steve was basically invincible – against normal humans, which Bucky had believed himself to be – he did his best to help him get accustomed to fighting in a new body, which, apparently, nobody in the army had bothered to do. Other than Carter, who, thankfully, used more brains than brawns. "He was lucky there were no cameras around."

Sam furrowed his brows. "Are there cameras around now?"

"Does this look like the place for that?" Bucky gestured around the deserted forest. "By the way, if you had parried the gun downwards, you would have a gun right now. Let's try it again."

It was true that the forest had no security cameras, but even Sam couldn't have expected Bucky not to pull his phone out and record Sam during some of his trials surreptitiously. And it wasn't exactly hard to get (somewhat shaky) videos of Sam dropping the shield on his toes and then trying to hit Bucky, too, when he realized he was being filmed. Bucky needed the blackmail material, and it wouldn't have been fair to leave Steve completely out of the picture, either.

Sam had the advantage of having watched Steve use the shield for a few years, but the disadvantage of being a human with a normal human physique. The shield was lighter than it looked, but bigger, and had a mind on its own – or so the Howlies and Bucky had thought back in the day. The vibranium absorbed the force of an impact differently than one expected, and it took some getting used to. When Sam first tried to bounce it back from a tree, he managed to break a branch the size of his torso in half, and the shield got lodged in the truck of the tree behind.

Bucky generally didn't encourage using it as a frisbee, but Sam had to know its way around it. So they both learned: Sam the technique to use Cap's signature weapon, and Bucky how to swear like an airman because Sam used fancier and fancier swearwords on par with his increasing frustration.

"It's impossible," Sam said, after what felt like the fiftieth time he tried unsuccessfully to bounce the shield back from yet another tree, and in the meantime managed to get hit in the shoulder by the shield. He had also tripped over some roots, got hit in the head, and got the shield stuck in a boulder. "This is simply impossible."

Bucky gestured, and when Sam reluctantly handed the shield over to him, Bucky threw it, using the momentum of an elegant mid-air spin. The shield hit three different trees before coming back to him, and he caught it easily.

"Magic," Sam said. "Y'all are just using magic."

"I use knowledge," Bucky said.

"You have a metal arm, that's an unfair advantage."

"And you are just making excuses," Bucky said, and he motioned Sam close instead of giving the shield back outright.

"If you're about to hug me from behind to show me how it's done–"

"Keep dreaming," Bucky guffawed. "Hold up your hands."

He instructed Sam to hold his hands up as if he was praying, but with palms facing forward. Then he used the magnetic bracelet on his arm to hook the shield there and use it as an extension of his right hand. Sam didn't flinch away when he slowly imitated hitting him, just raised his arms securely in front of his face.

"Feel how different it is," Bucky said, and used the shield to gently hit him with the center of the shield's curve, then the edge. "You can feel how the vibranium reacts."

Sam, even through the heavy kevlar of the Captain America uniform, must have indeed felt it, because his eyes widened and he nodded.

"Oh wow."

"Yeah," Bucky grinned, then gave the shield back to Sam.

The next throw at least bounced back from the first tree, even if only to lodge itself firmly into the ground a few dozen feet away.

"Okay, that was," Sam said as he jogged back with it. "Hey, Barnes – why are you helping me? Is it because you like me?"

"I may not know anything about black issues, but I know about Cap, so it's only fair that I help you become a good patriot," Bucky said.

"Aww, so you do like me."

"Shut up and throw the shield," Bucky said. "The rest is only math with angles, should be easy to figure it out. Even for you."

"I hate you."

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by these tumblr posts: [the one about how low Bucky's bar must be for a good day](https://cpt-winniethepooh.tumblr.com/post/623054660485414912), [the one about Bucky being the dad friend(TM)](https://cpt-winniethepooh.tumblr.com/post/183646259214), [the one about Sam teasing Bucky](https://cpt-winniethepooh.tumblr.com/post/638868947061587968), [and finally the amazing art-set on Bucky helping Sam out with the shield](https://cpt-winniethepooh.tumblr.com/post/638869121566654464) :) 
> 
> I'm not a black American person so I can only hope I did okay with what I said about Sam and representation here. I read a bunch of stuff on the matter and added some of my own (albeit differently) marginalized experiences (being queer). Please be kind in the comments. 
> 
> PS. I also don't think the _Falcon and the Winter Soldier_ will be anything like this, but hope never dies :D 


End file.
